Apple started sending notifications about its late beta version of iOS 6.1 to developers. The build available to registered and approved developers and it is called iOS 6.1 Beta 4 (build number 10B5126b). Beta 4 comes some 2 weeks after Beta 3 (released on December 3rd) and it is available for almost every Apple device including most iPhones and iPads, but Apple TV is not included. The Apple TV version will follow shortly.

There is no word about possible fixes and when the final version might hit the channel, but its good to know that Apple is keeping busy.

One can only speculate about the final feature set of iOS 6.1 and when the final version comes out, but there is a big chance that Apple might wait to see the alleged jailbreak that might show itself up next week, and later patch this vulnerability in the release candidate golden version of iOS 6.1 as well as in the final one.

The beta is out and in case you are a developer or know one, or have access to some forum that might have the leaked one, you might go for it. Let us know if you tried this one and if you have discovered some new features.

As Valve announced back in August, the developer will start offering non-gaming software via Steam. While the news left many scratching their heads, it is here now, with six non-gaming titles in the first wave of offerings.

The six titles to be offered are ArtRage Studio Pro; CameraBag 2; GameMaker: Studio; 3D-Coat; 3DMark Vantage and 3DMark 11. The non-gaming titles use the same Steamworks features for east installs and updating and of course you can save your work to your performance Steam Cloud space.

If you act quickly, you can take advantage of the launch of these non-gaming titles and enjoy a nice 10% discount off their regular price.

Intel’s delayed software that conserves battery life is holding up development of some tablets running the latest version of Microsoft Windows.

Bloomberg said that Mirosoft hasn’t yet approved any tablets featuring an Intel processor codenamed Clover Trail because the chipmaker hasn’t produced necessary power-management software. This sort of news follows a statement by Intel Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini that Windows 8 was not really ready to ship.

Alex Gauna, an analyst at JMP Securities LLC in San Francisco said that the PC channel is in chaos right now with no one knowing what to do. He said that the people don’t know what to design for, as they don’t know what the consumers are going to buy. Tablets have stolen their growth trajectory, plus the macro situation, plus Wintel has made a mess of their ecosystem.

PC makers, including HP, Dell and Lenovo Group Ltd. (992), are counting on the new version of Windows to help them compete in the $63.2 billion tablet market.

Yes you read it right, the company that invented the blue screen of something-went-wrongs is behind the new law enforcement software kit dubbed the Domain Awareness System.

Developed by Microsoft and New York’s finest, the software is described as a “powerful counterterrorism and policing tool”. It relies on data streams from CCTV cameras, license plate readers, environmental sensors and the police database.

In practice, this means that cops will have instant access to live video feeds, suspects’ crime records, 911 calls linked to them and such. DAS can also map criminal history to reveal time or location based crime patterns, very CSI-ish if we may add.

When alarmed by radiation sensors in the field, the system will quickly reveal whether the radiation is nature, medicine or crime-related. Additionally, DAS will let the police peek into the past at any of the 3,000 locations strapped with cameras. Note that the cameras are currently mostly in lower Manhattan, but the NYPD has already commenced expanding the network.

The software uses an intelligent and intuitive graphical interface, which is probably a must. We just can’t stop thinking about the fact it’s Microsoft we're talking about here. I mean, wasn’t the question “What do they do when it hangs?” the first thing that crossed your mind?

The initial launch of the PlayStation Vita handheld in Japan has been a bit rocky. Reports of a number of software issues, as well as system lockups and touchscreen freezes, seem to be the order of the day. Japanese buyers are not happy and are venting their displeasure on social media sites.

Sony is watching, and they have already issued a firmware update to address the issues and they are apparently preparing to issue an apology letter, as well, according to rumors. It is unclear why some of these issues were not resolved before the unit shipped, but at least Sony is trying hard to stay on top of the issues and get them resolved.

The good news for North American and European buyers is that we suspect that most of the issues will be sorted out before its release in those regions next year. That is the best news of all if you happen to live in one of these regions and are planning to buy a Vita.

The promised patch from id Software to address issues with the graphics options in the just released title RAGE has showed up on Steam this past weekend. The patch exposes additional graphics options for PC owners to tweak the performance of RAGE on their graphics hardware.

The issues with RAGE seem to center on issues with the graphics drivers, according to id Software, and both AMD and Nvidia have moved to provide new beta drivers to deal with the issue. Still, the new patch adds much more flexibility for configuration of the graphics options within the video settings menu and could help some users tweak their settings to address issues.

From what we have been able to tell since the release of the patch, at least some users are still reporting problems that are apparently worse now then they were before the patch was issued. However, it does seem that for some users the additional settings have brought some relief from the problems they were having.

The issues with RAGE and the graphics drivers have impacted the reception of the PC version of the game. Still, we expect that once things are sorted out the situation will improve and the PC version of the game will stabilize. In our experience, once we were on the beta drivers our issues with RAGE seemed to have been solved, but Battlefield 3 no longer works. It could still be a while before the entire situation gets sorted out.

Intel has bought the mobile navigation software maker Telmap, writing a cheque for between $300 and $350 million.

Telmap CEO Oren Nissim said the deal would close before the end of the year. It would see Telmap will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intel.

Nissim told Reuters that it was jolly nice when a giant and says "We really like what you're doing, we believe in your strategy, we want to enhance and go forward." Which is odd really because that is not what Jonah said when he was eaten up, nor any of Jaws' victims.

He said that teaming up with Intel will enable Telmap to provide a "true alternative" to offerings from giants such as Nokia and Google. Intel said that Telmap will become much bigger and reach places it hasn't before. This includes Europe, Asia-Pacific or the United States. The company will remain based in Israel.

Microsoft will release a Community Technology Preview of a new type of compiler.

Code-named Project Roslyn, Redmond claims it could revise what compilers do. Anders Hejlsberg told the Microsoft Build conference that the project was about opening the compiler and making all that information available so the developer can harness all of this knowledge.

Roslyn compiles C3 and Visual Basic with a set of APIs that developers can use to fine-tune their code. It is similar to Miguel de Icaza's Mono Project, in which the information the compiler generates about a program can be reused as a library. Developers could also use the output of such software to do tasks like refactor, or reorganize, their code more easily.

It would be possible to add C# and Visual Basic functionality to programs written in other languages. Developers can also add objects and new variables to a program. Roslyn could convert Visual Basic code to C# code.

HP is starting to lose customers over its glorious new plans to dump its hardware arm and get more into software.Already the outfit's plans are being treated with suspicion by investors but the Wall Street Journal seems to think that the outfit is starting to lose some of its best customers.

It quoted Ray Barnard, chief information officer of Fluor Corp., an engineering and construction company that spends around $25 million a year on new hardware and software. Fluor was recently considering buying high-end computers capable of displaying 3D graphics from HP and did a pilot project involving tablets with the tech company.

He told the WSJ that he put that on hold and he will not buy from the company because it appears that they're lost right now. This is the sort of news HP does not want to hear.

Intel has come up with software which it claims an instantly analyze a person's face to come up with their gender and age.

Apparently Chipzilla is more interested in the technology because advertisers can use it for real-time demographic detection. The idea is that a billboard or kiosk can quickly analyze the facial features of the shopper then display specific ads directed to them.

Kraft Foods and Adidas plan to experiment with facial recognition. Intel did not say if its software could tell what the sex of Justin Bieber or Orlando Bloom was, because we can't.

The idea is that if you are walking through a supermarket, your normal choices could be highlighted along with your recommendations. This would not be good if you went to a record shop and other shoppers discovered that you were one of those people who paid money for a Coldplay record.